Bayou Boogaloo features eco-friendly signage by Loyola students

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Art and design students at Loyola University New Orleans are going green this spring as they help to create signage made from recycled materials for the annual Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo May 17-19. The signs designate areas for recycling, food vendors, stage areas and more.

The free music and art festival takes place along the banks of historic and beautiful Bayou St. John and is well-known for its ongoing sustainability efforts. This year, Boogaloo founders are calling on the ingenuity of Loyola’s graphic design students to use recycled materials for signage that will be displayed throughout the event and at future festivals.

“We presented the students with a problem, one that has pained us for a few years,” said Jared Zeller, director of Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo. “After reviewing our parameters, the students presented us with creative and inexpensive ways to address our signage needs. The students offered several solutions, and we liked them so much that we decided to implement all of them.”

Additionally, students in the advanced typography class created a series of 12 screen-printed posters inspired by the Dalai Lama, who will be in New Orleans this weekend. The posters will also be displayed during the festival.

The Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo strives to be a “zero-waste event” by reducing the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserving and recovering all resources, and does not burn or bury waste. Other sustainability efforts include replacing nine large southern live oak trees on the festival grounds that were lost during Hurricanes Katrina and Isaac.

In 2012, more than 25,000 locals and visitors reveled in music from three stages, sampled unique local culture and enjoyed the Boogaloo Art Market.

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